JP2836764B2 - Ophthalmic ultrasonic diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for ophthalmology, and more particularly, to a diagnostic apparatus using ultrasonic waves suitable for measuring the axial length of an eye and diagnosing eye tissue. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Diagnostic devices that use ultrasonic waves to obtain information on the inside of an eyeball have rapidly become widespread. The dramatic progress in image processing technology has made it possible to use ultrasound for diagnostic purposes that has superior properties compared to existing ones, such as low invasiveness and economical low cost. By the way, when comparing an ophthalmic ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus with other medical ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses,
In an ophthalmologic apparatus, it is necessary to bring an ultrasonic probe into contact with the eye. Therefore, although various structures and arrangements have been devised for the probe, there is no special feature in the transmission and reception of ultrasonic waves. . However, an ophthalmic apparatus receives an ultrasonic wave reflected by each tissue in the eye, processes the received signal by a general processing technique, and monitors this as an A-mode image or a B-mode image. Is not so significant. Only by adding and processing the empirical information of the ophthalmologist to the information obtained in this way, it can be useful for ophthalmic diagnosis. For example, one purpose of using an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus by an ophthalmologist is to calculate the power of an IOL inserted after cataract surgery. IOL power calculation is performed by substituting the so-called ocular axial length obtained from the ultrasonic device into a power calculation formula. The power calculation formula of this IOL is formulated based on many years of experience of ophthalmologists, and there are currently five or more typical ones. Each of these power calculation formulas has advantages and disadvantages.
No satisfactory power calculation formula has been obtained. Existing formulas are established based on experience, and change as experience accumulates.

Further, the present applicant has filed Japanese Patent Application No. 63-41434.
In the issue, a device suitable for differential diagnosis was proposed. This apparatus has means for storing a reflection eco-image having a dynamic range larger than that of a display image, and taking out an image under arbitrary conditions to obtain an image equivalent to an image obtained by changing the dynamic range. Is what you do. Also in this apparatus, it is not possible to unambiguously determine under what conditions an image should be taken out. The constant clinical experience of an ophthalmologist is a thing. In a conventional apparatus, information necessary for performing various processes such as the IOL power calculation formula is stored only in a memory built in the apparatus main body. Therefore, in such a device, new programs and data necessary for diagnosis, for example, IOL power
When the calculation formula is announced, each time you enter the inside of the device,
Had changed it.

[0004]

In the above-described apparatus, the life of the apparatus is determined by a program or data provided in the apparatus.
However, in the era of a large number of researchers and active publication of research results, as in the present case, the life of programs and data built into the equipment is directly affected by this. Is inconvenient.

[0005] In addition, since the measurement and diagnosis results cannot be stored in the conventional apparatus, the next patient cannot be measured until a series of processing and diagnosis is completed for each patient, and the other patients must wait for another patient to wait. There was an inconvenience of not becoming. This leads to the drawback that a series of progress cannot be easily examined because the past measurement and diagnosis results of the patient cannot be reproduced on the apparatus. Once the diagnosis has been completed, the results are stored only on the printed paper, so that when a new program or data is to be used, the inspection must be restarted from the beginning. Furthermore, even if the device is configured to be able to store diagnostic results to some extent,
The internal storage capacity is limited, and it is not preferable to incorporate a storage device such as a disk or a large-capacity memory in the device, because the device becomes larger and more expensive.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks. A first object of the present invention is that even if new programs and data required for diagnosis are developed, they can be immediately modified without modifying the apparatus. An object of the present invention is to provide an ophthalmic ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that can be used.

A second object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus which can easily reproduce data of a patient and can make a diagnosis with a new program or data.

[0008] A third object is to provide an apparatus capable of efficiently diagnosing a large number of patients.

[0009]

To achieve the above object, the present invention has the following features. (1) An ophthalmic ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of receiving reflected waves of an ultrasonic wave made incident into an eyeball and obtaining information in the eyeball, for a diagnostic program or for processing for diagnosis.
A first memory card storing data, and a reception signal of the subject's eye
A second memory card for storing items, and out possible card connector of a memory card, a card interface that allows the exchange of information between the card connector notes <br/> Ricardo and apparatus built in a microcomputer ,
Received signal of the subject's eye read from the second memory card
The diagnostic program of the first memory card or
Perform arithmetic processing based on the processing data for diagnosis
Arithmetic processing means .

[0010]

[0011]

[0012]

[0013]

[0014]

1 is an external view of an ophthalmic ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes a main body of the apparatus, in which a control circuit, a processing circuit, and the like are built. 2 is the power switch of the device,
Reference numeral 3 denotes a display for displaying the measurement / diagnosis result, and reference numeral 4 denotes a knob for adjusting the volume of the amplifier. Reference numeral 5 denotes a connector for a measurement probe 6, and reference numeral 7 denotes a card for inserting a ROM or RAM card.
Connector. Reference numeral 8 denotes a printer for printing the measurement and diagnosis results on paper. Reference numeral 9 denotes a keyboard for operating the control of the main body 1 and inputting data relating to the patient.
Is.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the entire apparatus. 10
Is a microcomputer built into the apparatus body,
Controls the entire device. The examiner operates the keyboard 9 connected to the outside of the apparatus main body to instruct the contents of the control command of the microcomputer 10. Microcomputer
The rotor 10 controls the probe driver 11 to vibrate the vibrator in the probe 6 to emit ultrasonic waves. Ultrasonic waves reflected by various tissues in the eyeball are received by a receiver in the probe 6, converted into time-series electrical signals, and sent to the apparatus main body 1. The information from the receiver is amplified by an amplifier 12 and then processed by a sample and measurement circuit 13. The information processed by the sample and measurement circuit 13 is sent to a waveform and image display circuit 14 and displayed on the display 3 as an A-mode waveform or a B-mode image. The information processed by the sample and measurement circuit 13 is also sent to the microcomputer 10, and necessary characters and graphs are displayed on the display 3 via the graphic display circuit 15.

Numeral 16 denotes a card interface connected to the microcomputer 10 so that the microcomputer 10 and the memory card 17 can exchange information via the card connector 7. Has become. The memory card 17 is a card-sized device in which a memory is arranged. In this embodiment, a RAM card whose contents can be freely rewritten by a user and a ROM that cannot be rewritten by a user. Cards are available. R
OM card has changes like IOL power calculation formula,
New programs and data to be added are stored.
The RAM card stores patient-specific data and the like obtained by the measurement.

Next, the exchange of information between the memory card 17 and the microcomputer 10 will be described based on a flowchart. First, the case of a ROM card will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, the power is turned on, and it is first determined whether or not a ROM card is present (step 30). If there is no ROM card, the program inside the main body is started as it is. If there is a ROM card, the contents of the ROM card are loaded into the memory in the main body, the program and data in the main body are converted (step 31), and the program is started.

During the execution of the program, it is determined whether there is a ROM card (step 32). If there is no ROM card, the program is executed as it is. If there is a ROM card, the routine proceeds to step 33, where it is determined whether or not a ROM card program is set. If not set, execute the program as it is. When setting, proceed to step 31 to store the contents of the ROM card into the memory in the main unit.
OAD, and performs conversion processing of programs and data inside the main body. The contents of the ROM card are all stored in the memory inside the main unit.
The reason why the OAD is performed is to remove the ROM card after the LOAD and place the RAM card in a usable state.

In this embodiment, each time the power is turned on, R
The reason that the OM card is inserted into the insertion device and loaded is to simplify the device so as not to be expensive. Therefore, it is apparent that, by providing a backup circuit or the like, a changed or added new program or data can be used without inserting a ROM card every time the power is turned on.

Next, the case of a RAM card will be described. The RAM card is filed collectively for each patient, but one RAM card is distinguished by a file name because several RAM files are stored. When loading a file, a list of file names is first displayed as shown in FIG. 4 (step 40). Then, a file to be loaded is selected from the file names (step 41).
LOAD is executed (step 42). In this way, by reading past patient data from the RAM card, a diagnosis can be immediately made based on changed or added new programs or data. It can also be used as follows. For example, only measurements of outpatients are made in the morning, and the results are stored in a RAM card.
In the afternoon, when the measurement of the outpatient is completed, data can be read from the RAM card, and processing and diagnosis can be performed collectively.

SAVE of patient data is performed according to FIG. First, a list of file names is displayed (step 5
0), it is determined whether the same file exists (step 5).
1). If there is no identical file, go to step 54,
A new SAVE is executed with a file name. If there is the same file, the process proceeds to step 52 to determine whether or not to overwrite. If it is not overwritten, the process proceeds to step 54, and a new SAVE is executed. In the case of overwriting, the process proceeds to step 53, and SAVE for overwriting is executed.

[0022]

According to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention, it is only necessary to add a ROM card without increasing the size of the apparatus for post-processing sequences to be announced one after another. Since it is possible to cope with the situation, it is easy to use the latest programs and data.

Further, since the past measurement results of the patient can be reproduced on the apparatus, a series of progress can be supported, and re-diagnosis by using the latest programs and data is facilitated.

Furthermore, since the device can be used efficiently, the burden on both the examiner and the patient is reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view illustrating an ophthalmic ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an ophthalmic ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a state of LOAD of a ROM card.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a state of LOAD of a RAM card.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a state of SAVE of a RAM card.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Microcomputer 16 Card interface 17 Memory card

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An ophthalmic ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of receiving reflected waves of an ultrasonic wave incident on an eyeball and obtaining information on the eyeball is provided.
A first memory card storing processing data and an eye
A second memory card for storing a received signal, a card connector capable of inserting and removing the memory card, and the card connector
A card interface enabling information to be exchanged between the memory card of the first embodiment and a microcomputer built in the apparatus, and a receiving interface of the subject's eye read from the second memory card.
Wave signal for the diagnosis program of the first memory card
Or an arithmetic processing based on the processing data for diagnosis.
Ophthalmic ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized by comprising: a processing unit for management for the.